A quietly confident and careful man, Graham Ford is a better coach than he was a cricketer. He played just seven first-class matches and between 1982 and 1989 and was also a provincial tennis champion and football representative for Natal. He started coaching in 1992 and worked with a side which included Malcolm Marshall, Shaun Pollock and Lance Klusener. They won both domestic trophies in the 1996-97 season.

Ford's impressive results at home earned him a role with the South African A side in 1998 and with the senior side, as assistant to Bob Woolmer in 1999. He replaced Woolmer at the end of the 1999 World Cup, but was fired after a disastrous run in the 2001-02 summer against Australia, when South Africa lost both home and away series.

He had stints at Kent and the Dolphins (formerly Natal) again, both times leaving for personal reasons, understood to be the health of his wife. In 2007, he was offered the Indian coaching job but it turned it down. He also declined an offer to return to Kent and from the 2009-10 season coached the Dolphins once again. Ford was interviewed by Sri Lanka Cricket in August 2011 but declined the job, saying he needed six months. In January 2012, he resigned with immediate effect from the Dolphins and was announced national coach of Sri Lanka. His first assignment was the tri-series in Australia, featuring the hosts and India.
Firdose Moonda